Lists of the Week: Top Performers 8/26/2024

 

Hello, battle brothers! It's Monday, which means we have the results of the weekend's tournaments. We have some very exiting results! A Dark Angels list won the biggest event of the weekend! Cam Hawkins of Imperial Outlaws went 6-0 with his Dark Angels Gladius at Texas Open 2024, a 6-round event with 104 players! Cam's was not the only event-winning list either, and there were a number of other high-placing lists, so let's dive right into it!

Let's start with Cam's list, which you can see on BCP. The short version is below. 

Cam-panions (I see what you did there Cam)
Azrael
Apothecary Biologis (aka Harmacist): Fire Discipline
Judiciar
Impulsor
Impulsor
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Repulsor
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads

At this point, the broad strokes of what is competitive for Dark Angels are pretty well known. Gladius. Azrael. Deathwing Knights. Jump Intercessors. ICCs. Eradicators with Harmacist. I expect to see all these things. What changes are some of the details. The biggest surprise for me was to see Ravenwing Knights. I'm imagining they fill a similar role to Jump Intercessors. They're only 10 points more. They have 1 less wound overall, but are T5 and have a 5++. They have significantly less attacks in close combat, but what they do have is higher strength, better AP, and Anti-Big Things 4+ on the charge. They also have much more significant shooting output, and with the big long bases can screen a pretty big chunk of territory. 

Cam's list also has kind of a lot of vehicles, with 2 Impulsors and a Repulsor. I'm inclined to think he sends them out onto midfield objectives as his first wave, with the DWKs acting as his second wave. Opponents have to expend not-inconsiderable effort to pop all the boxes, presumably leaving them not much left to shoot with when everything has been de-meched. Those Ravenwing Knights can be used to screen the Repulsor, protecting the Eradicators from getting tied up in combat. Then an opponent has to assault the ICCs, which is not a fun prospect with one of them getting Fights First from the Judiciar and the other having a 4++ from Azrael. Not a fun prospect for most opponents.

The one thing I'm a little confused by is the lack of an obvious backfield objective unit. Cam probably tasked a Scout Squad to that, and in games where holding the backfield objective scores no points, he may have just left it unprotected, though that doesn't seem like a winning strategy against any opponent with any Deep Strike or Strategic Reserves units. Once those are committed though, the Scouts could come up.

Interestingly, neither of Cam's DWK squads are equipped with maces, though in both cases the Knight Master has what we would consider the flail.

Cam rode the win train all the way to Victory Lane! Round 1 he pummeled Custodes 95-27. Round 2 he drubbed Grey Knights 100-49. Round 3 he defeated another Custodes army 85-57. Round 4 he faced Grey Knights again, this being a much closer game, 81-73. Round 5 he convincingly defeated Space Wolves 94-62. Round 6 he defeated Astra Militarum 86-63. Ironically, all of Cam's games were against other Imperial armies. He didn't face any Chaos or Xenos lists. I guess all those Imperial forces contained a guy who knew something about the Fallen!

The other winning list rose to the top at the Heroes Of The Mid Table, Summer, GT, 2024, in British Columbia Canada, and event with 42 players. There, Ryan Burns of Mid Table Tactics went 5-0 to defeat all comers. We can see Ryan's list on BCP. The short version is below.

I'm sure Glad-ius DWKs got taken out of the Dumpster
Lion Dad
Azrael
Apothecary Biologis (aka Harmacist): Fire
Lieutenant with Combi-Weapon
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Hellblaster Squad: 10 plasma boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 sneaky boys
Repulsor
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
Callidus Assassin

The surprises in this list: no Jump Intercessors, no ICCs, no Scouts. Lion Dad is not a conventional choice, but not a terrible one. Both Eradicators and Hellblasters are unusual to see, but as I've got that in my list I'm not criticising, and Ryan did take 1rst place at a GT with this list.  The Combi-weapon Lieutenant is a little Lone Op that can hang around and give Lion Dad his Lone Op, while maybe Cleansing a midfield objective. Sternguard are an eyebrow-raiser. My guess would be it gives Ryan a way to inflict Dev wounds on pesky Infantry units. He probably chooses to put Azrael with them instead of the Hellblasters when facing Infantry units with Invulnerable saves and with the Hellblasters when he's not. The Callidus Assassin gives him an uppy-downy unit that can go anywhere and is hard to interact with. 

Ryan also had a non-stop ride on the win train. Round 1 he beat Death Guard 85-47. Round 2 he beat another Dark Angels list*, 79-63. Round 3 he defeated an Ultramarines list** 100-64.  Round 4 he trounced Chaos Knights, 98-32. Round 5 he drubbed another Ultramarines list, 97-48.

*The other Dark Angels list was played by Brandon Blair. I would have regarded his list as fairly conventional if it had been a Gladius, but he played it as an Unforgiven Task Force. Here's Brandon's list on BCP. Brandon went 2-2 and apparently opted not to play the 5th round.

**For those of us who are eager to see what happens when Lion Dad finally reunites Roboute Guilliman, they faced each other across the table in Round 3.

That's all the event winners, but there were still lists that performed well. Jeff Jew once again brings his Gladius into striking distance of going all the way, going 4-1 at with his Gladius to score 8th out of 60 players at the Hammer of Wrath GT in Cypress, California.. You can see Jeff's list on BCP.  The short version is below.

playing this list feels like https://youtu.be/K2iC1aCPbKA?si=hHnC9o-FrUzboiTj (It's Heart of Courage from Two Steps From Hell's Invincible album) Azrael Judiciar  Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys   Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys   Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys    Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys   Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys   Infiltrator Squad: 5 sneaky boys Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Vindicator Vindicator Callidus Assassin

The main variation with this list is that Jeff replaces the Eradicators led by the Harmacist with the pair of Vindicators, which definitely has merits as their demolisher cannons are effective into a wider array of targets than the Eradicators melta. It's a smaller investment in points as well if we factor in the Repulsor we see so frequently to carry them around. With the points saved, Jeff has taken the 3rd squad of DWKs and a 3rd squad of Jump Intercessors. I imagine he assigns Azrael to the foot Assault Intercessors and the Judiciar to the ICCs. The Infiltrators, Scouts, and Callidus are all conventional picks.

Jeff's ride on the win train was interrupted by a layover 3rd round. In the 1rst round he went 90-63 against the filthy heretics (Chaos Marines). 2nd round he went 94-63 against Custodes. 3rd round he took a 55-68 loss against Thousand Sons. 4th round he won 96-64 against Astra Militarum. 5th round he faced another Dark Angels list*, prevailing 87-80.

*The other Dark Angels list was played by Stephen Corrales of Xenos Petting Zoo, who like Brandon Blair took some fairly conventional unit choices (and some unconventional ones) and stuck them in an Unforgiven Task Force instead of a Gladius. For all of that he did fairly well, going 3-2 with his lowest score being a 78. You can see Stephen's list on BCP. 

Two of the weekends X-1 lists came from Cardiff Carnage #1 in Wales. Repeat performers Ben Jones and Jay Seebarun, both of Vanguard Tactics, went 4th and 7th respectively out of 49 players. That's nice and convenient! You can see Ben's list here, and Jay's list here, both on BCP. I'll start off the discussion of Ben's list with the short version below. 

glad (Remember brothers, give your lists snazzy names in case some fanboy blogs about them!) Azrael Harmacist: Fire Discipline Judiciar: Artificer Armor Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys   Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys    Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys     Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Infiltrators: 5 sneaky boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys  Land Raider Redeemer Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Callidus Assassin

This is a pretty conventional tournament list. The main variation here is the Land Raider Redeemer instead of the Repulsor. It trades out the Repulsor's datasheet re-embarking shenanigans for murderous overwatch and embarked units being able to charge out of it after it moves. The primary intended role for the Redeemer is probably to transport the Eradicators, but it should be noted its transport capacity is 14, which means it can transport both ICC squads with attached characters. 

This list also eschewed even a token Battleline unit. Thus far I haven't noticed a majority of lists having no Battleline at all, but it's not uncommon. Our first event-winning list also lacked any Battleline units. 

Ben's trip on the win train stopped just short of the preferred destination. 1rst round, he drubbed a Leagues of Votann list 100-21. Round 2 he beat Drukhari 95-64. Round 3 he beat Tyranids 95-85. Round 4 he won against another Drukhari list by a much tighter margin, 69-65. Ben's loss came in the 5th round, and it was a nail-biting 90-93 against Adeptus Sororitas. 

Now let's see the short version of Jay Seebarun's list.

Dark Angels Gladius (C'mon Jay, give your lists cooler names!)  Azrael Harmacist: Fire Discipline Judiciar: The Honour Vehement Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys   Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys    Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys     Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Gladiatior Lancer
Infiltrators: 5 sneaky boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys  Land Raider Redeemer 

You can tell Ben and Jay developed their lists together. The only difference is that Jay dropped the Callidus and Scout Squad, including instead the Gladiator Lancer and the slightly more expensive enhancement on his Judiciar. The inclusion of the Gladiator gives Jay a means of forcibly un-assing units from transports without dedicating his Eradicators to the effort, but it does limit his secondary scoring options. Maybe he's doing fixed Secondaries and choosing ones that don't oblige him to have units do actions. Of course that might explain why Ben came in 4th and Jay came in 7th. 

Jay's trip on the win train was another one that had a forced stop in the middle 1rst round he drubbed Thousand Sons 80-24. 2nd round was a convincing 95-64 win against Drukhari. 3rd round another Drukhari list avenged the last one's loss, inflicting a 59-89 loss. 4th round saw Jay re-embark the win train 87-52 against Leagues of Votann. 5th round, Jay ended strong with a 99-81 win against Ultramarines.

Our last list for the week comes out of Wasteland Wars 3 in Lubbock, Texas. There, Colton Havens of Salt hammer West went 4-.1 to take 2nd out of 40 players. You can see Colton's list on BCP. The short version is below. 

Deathwatch? Never heard of 'em (See,THIS is how you name a list!)  Azrael Captain in Terminator Armor Harmacist: Fire Discipline Lieutenant with Combi-weapon Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys Impulsor Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys     Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Inceptor Squad: 3 chonky flying bolter boys
Infiltrators: 5 sneaky boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Land Raider Redeemer Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads  Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads

This list leaned a little harder into tech pieces, with 2 squads of Scouts, an Inceptor squad, and the combi-weapon Lieutenant. Colton took an Impulsor and Intercessors instead of 2 squads of Jump Intercessors. I'm not sure that was a good trade, but the Impulsor does grant the ability to do re-embarking shenanigans with Squad Tactics. I imagine Azrael is on foot with the ICCs so he can feed the army those sweet sweet CPs, but he could be riding instead of walking instead. It's not typical to see Inceptors because those points could literally be a 3rd squad of Scouts and a character, but they probably do good service against a lot of armies. Colton's choice of the bolter Inceptors means he's less likely to be tempted to use them to do real damage against a big target, so they're probably scoring Secondary points for him more reliably as a result.

Colton's ride on the win train, like Ben's, came to a halt just before the final stop. Round 1 he beat Chaos Knights 93-57. Round 2 he drubbed Leagues of Votann 87-42. Round 3 he beat Death Guard 100-64. Round 4 he beat Tyranids 94-76. Round 5 he took a nail-biting loss, 73-72 against Drukhari, the player being the one who took 1rst place at the event. Colton actually had more battle points than the event winner, but the event winner is always going to be someone who rode the win train all the way to the last stop. 

Statistics

Dark Angels had an overall 49% win rate for the weekend, and are sitting on a 9-week 46% win rate.

The Gladius was the most-played and most-winning detachment, with 21 players winning 60 out of 111 games for a 54% win rate for the weekend, and a 9-week 52% win rate. The Gladius produced all the top-performing lists, with 6 X-0/X-1 lists and 2 event wins. 

That sounds like a lot, but 5 other armies also got 2 event wins, and at least a half dozen had more X-0/X-1 lists - and quite a few of them had a lot more. If you're worrying about us getting a nerf, I think you can stop.

The Unforgiven Task Force and the Company of Hunters tied for 2nd most winning detachment over the weekend, with 2 players each, each winning 5 out of 10 games for 50% win rates.

The Inner Circle Task Force only got a 27% win rate over the weekend, with 2 players who between them won 3 out of 11 games. 

2 players tried to keep the Ironstorm alive, but all they accomplished was doing slightly better than the ICTF players with a 30% win rate. They got a better win percentage only because they played 1 less game overall, 10 instead of 11.

One guy tried to be different and played a Vanguard, winning only 1 out of 5 games. Maybe he was trying to make Deathwing Termintors work and figured the Vanguard might be the key to that.

That is it! It was a very exciting weekend for the Dark Angels! It's nice to have demonstrated that we have the tools to win a big event, and encouraging to see so many battle brothers do so well. May we all represent the legion chapter as well as the battle brothers featured above! For The Lion and the Emperor!